This will be the first edition of the server to fully support the latest enterprise Java standard, Java EE 6. It will also be the first version of the software to run IBM's installation manager, which the company has started packaging with much of its software, noted Steve Robinson, a Websphere consultant who is writing an introductory book on Websphere 8 administration.

While IBM has made a lot of changes in Websphere 8, overall, this version is more of a fine tuning of the code base, at least compared to the overhaul the company did for version 7, released in 2008, Robinson said.

Robinson noted that the software, even in beta, seems to load much more quickly. And it does feature a number of notable new capabilities, he added. The installation framework should ease deployment, especially for organisations that need to install the software across different hardware platforms. Another new "drag and drop" feature allows a Java application to be placed in a "live" folder that would make the application instantly operational, which should simplify testing for developers.

Considerable work has also been expended on integrating Websphere's internal Java messaging with IBM's enterprise service bus software, called Websphere MQ.

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"They are trying to make this more seamless between an existing MQ infrastructure and a Websphere application server-based messaging infrastructure," Robinson said. This would allow Websphere applications and other applications on MQ to trade data more readily.

An IBM spokesperson verified the announcement on the company's website was genuine, but declined to confirm the June 17 release date. Next week, IBM will be holding its conference for IBM middleware, called Impact, where IBM executives will no doubt reveal more about the upcoming Websphere release.